Prevalence of hypovitaminosis D in Indo-Asian patients attending a rheumatology clinic

Wintertime vitamin D insufficiency is common in young Canadian women, and their vitamin D intake does not prevent it

“…The mean serum 25(OH)D levels in the non-white women were not significantly lower in either season than in white women, indicating that their vitamin D status is not as severely compromized as American black women (Harris & Dawson-Hughes, 1998), but prevalence of vitamin D insufficiency in non-white women was greater during summer than in white women. This agrees with findings in Europe (Serhan et al, 1999) and the US (Awumey et al, 1998). The explanation for this, given anecdotally by several non-white women, was that women whose skin is naturally darker in color do not intentionally spend time in the sun to deepen its color further.…”

Prevalence and predictors of vitamin D deficiency in five immigrant groups living in Oslo, Norway: the Oslo Immigrant Health Study

“…To our knowledge, this is the first study internationally that assesses vitamin D status in both men and women of these ethnic minority groups in a community setting. Studies from Denmark and the UK indicate that vitamin D deficiency may be widespread in immigrants living in Western affluent communities, but these have most commonly been conducted in clinical settings (Serhan et al, 1999;Glerup et al, 2000;Wilkinson et al, 2000;Iqbal et al, 2001;Datta et al, 2002;Pedersen et al, 2003).…”

Low 25(OH) vitamin D concentrations in international UK track and field athletes

“…23,24 In the UK, reduced levels of 25(OH)D have been reported in a number of studies. [25][26][27][28] A large study of postmenopausal women reported 77% of women with 25(OH)D levels <28 mcg/l. 27 Deficiencies have also been noted in 78% of patients attending a UK rheumatology clinic 26 and over 90% of an Asian cohort during a UK winter.…”

“…[25][26][27][28] A large study of postmenopausal women reported 77% of women with 25(OH)D levels <28 mcg/l. 27 Deficiencies have also been noted in 78% of patients attending a UK rheumatology clinic 26 and over 90% of an Asian cohort during a UK winter. 25 It has been widely recognised that mean 25(OH)D levels are lower in dark-skinned individuals at all ages, with greater risk of insufficiency and deficiency.…”